October 2020

“Impressively original and deftly crafted.”

My desk with galleys.

I’m over the moon thrilled with this review of Mother Mother in the October 2020 “Small Press Bookwatch” of Midwest Book Review, written by editor-in-chief James A. Cox.

 Critique: An impressively original and deftly crafted novel by an author with a genuine flair for the kind of narrative storytelling style that fully engages the reader’s total attention from first page to last, “Mother Mother” will prove to be an immediately welcome and enduringly appreciated addition to both community and college/university library Contemporary Hispanic Literary Fiction collections.  

I love any review that describes me as “an author with a genuine flair”– for anything! Thank you, Midwest Book Review!

“Impressively original and deftly crafted.” Read More »

Two interviews, one fun and one serious

Photo by my son, Mateo

My book has been out in the world for more than a week and I’m sleeping better than I have for the past 7 years. Someday I’ll sit down and write about how it feels to be seized by a subject for so long. “Obsessed” can only begin to describe it. As I said earlier–here or somewhere else, I’ve lost track–I needed to tell this story and I told it. And that, my friend, is a great feeling.

Here are two interviews! The first is a fun, short read on Hasty Book List. Thank you to Emily at Mindbuck Media for setting up this and so many opportunities for my book! My favorite quote from this interview: “If I weren’t an author, I’d be…. a Broadway dancer.” Which everyone who grew up with me knows to be true. @MindbuckMedia

The second is an in-depth back-and-forth with Courtney Harler in The Masters Review. Courtney is a writer and editor I met at Bread Loaf in a workshop led by Luis Alberto Urrea and Naomi Jackson. Here’s an excerpt from the response to Courtney’s question about finding a home for Mother Mother at Loyola University’s Apprentice House Press. @apprenticehousepress

The call came on a Friday night. My kids and I were roaming the aisles of Target when an unfamiliar number flashed on my phone. I started jumping up and down, screaming. My son rushed over and grabbed me. “Mom, stop,” he said. “You’re on the security camera.” The three of us fell into a group hug. I was literally sobbing. I love that my kids witnessed my moment of victory because they’d seen me endure so much failure.

Thanks for reading!

PS: If you’ve read my book and like it, please consider leaving a review on Goodreads or Amazon. A million thanks.

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What would you do?

Another quote I appreciate from Paul LaRosa’s commentary in New York Journal of Books:

“O’Dwyer does a compelling job of juxtaposing the adoption experience in a way that is rarely done … The book seems to beg the reader for an answer to the question: What would you do?”

Because no answers are simple in adoption. There is no clear conclusion. There is no black-and-white, right or wrong paradigm. There’s only gray. Which I didn’t understand going in. Which I learned only after years of parenting as an adoptive mother.

What does it feel like to live in that uncertainty? That’s a question I wanted the reader to consider.

What would you do? Read More »

Review in New York Journal of Books

Poetry reading with visitor. Photo by Jeffrey DuFlon

I’m thrilled and honored to have my novel reviewed by Paul LaRosa in “New York Journal of Books.”

Here’s a short excerpt. Please click on the link here to read the entire review.

I’m especially grateful to LaRosa for noting the complexity of what I was striving for with Mother Mother. And because he mentioned my memoir, Mamalita, describing it as “page-turning.” How amazing to read that.

This is where O’Dwyer uses a storytelling device that elevates Mother Mother. The author doesn’t merely have Julie and the reader imagine what happened. She switches gears to tell the story of how Juan came to fall into the adoption process, and it is a harrowing tale. Suffice it to say that Guatemala was, during much of its recent history, a very violent country. Its citizens are still poor and ripe for abuse.

The photo above is of three friends and me in Guatemala, maybe two years ago, on a day we climbed a (small-ish) mountain near Antigua and finished with an impromptu poetry reading. In the Acknowledgment section of Mother Mother, I thank these three–Susan, Gretchen, and Wende–“who are as obsessed with Guatemalan history as I am.” One of these years, we may be able to return to Guatemala for another reunion.

In the meantime, please read Paul LaRosa’s review. It’s really good!

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Book launch at Annie Bloom’s in Portland, OR

My book launched in the age of Covid. Thank you to everyone who attended, on zoom or in spirit. A fabulous night!

Special thanks to Annie Bloom’s Bookstore in Portland, Oregon for hosting, author Katey Schultz for sharing the stage, and Apprentice House Press director Kevin Atticks for everything. And to my 15-year-old Mateo, who set me up with lights, microphone, and combed hair.

The launch was different from what I imagined, but because I saw the names and faces of so many friends, I truly felt the love. xoxo

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